Page 8 of Savage Truth

“You can’t use this against her. Things would go bad—for her, anyway. And even though we aren’t close anymore, I don’t want to cause her pain.”

The seedy underbelly of being popular.I could guess, but I would rather have had confirmation about why Brooke kept Cassie protected from the other girls’ wrath. “Okay. I promise not to breathe a word about it.”

“Ballet is a big thing to Brooke. I think she wants to dance in New York for one of the companies out there after high school. Anyway, she was a little chubby in junior high, and our instructor was hard on her, pushing her to lose weight, eat better—”

“Or not at all?” Anger climbed my spine. I didn’t have to like her to hate how she was treated.

“Yeah, pretty much. I found her in the bathroom more than one time, puking. She had an issue with bulimia. Then there was the cutting. Only in places that wouldn’t show. But I saw one day. She swore me to secrecy, and I only agreed if she stopped.”

“Did she?”

“I think so. I made sure to go to the beach with her as often as possible and get in the water. I figured the salt water would be a little bit of a deterrent. But she also had a growth spurt, and all the softer spots that our instructor was hard on her about melted away.”

“That sucks.” Completely ridiculous. But I could also understand Brooke and Cassie’s positions better with that information. “I swear I won’t say a word. Thanks for sharing that with me.”

“Well, it hasn’t been easy for you at school.”

“It’s not that bad.” I suddenly had some respect for Brooke. She had never openly picked on me. Not that it bothered me that the others did, but it showed what type of person she was.

“Back to Cole. I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

“So what if Cole found the video? There’s another fight tonight. Record another one.”

I felt nauseous just thinking about it. “It’s not worth the trouble. And I have an aversion to cops. And they would be involved if I leaked the video. There are other things I can do to get to him.”

“Really?” Disbelief and sarcasm were heavy in that single word. “There’s more to it than that.”

“No.” Beads of sweat broke out along my hairline. She was too close to the truth, something I didn’t even want to admit to myself. Because it couldn’t be true that there was more to my feelings for Cole other than lust. I didn’t do that—ever. If Mom and Uncle Ronan had taught me anything, it was to keep myself physically and emotionally guarded around others.

“You know I don’t believe you.”

I pushed out a breath, rolling onto my stomach and bunching some of the duvet under my arms like a pillow. “Believe it. If I post it, he could face jail time. He’s eighteen, and I bet some of the kids he fights are underage.”

“Oh,” Cass whispered. “I didn’t think of it that way. Legal charges would be serious and something that their dad may not be able to get them out of.”

“Right. It’s more for me to torture him with and hold over his head. But I don’t want to take things too far. Plus, it would give his brother and cousins ammunition. If I did something like that, they would come at me full force, adding to whatever Cole could do before being hauled away to jail.” I shuddered at the thought of cops. No way would I do that. I wouldn’t want to be in that position, and some of them could be influenced by who we were running from.

“Fair point. But I still call bullshit on the real reason why you won’t do it. You like him. Youreallylike him.”

I snorted. “What’s not to like… physically? It’s the rest that I’m not into.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Riles.” She laughed. “Have fun torturing Cole.”

“You know I will.” I joined in the laughter. It was more fun than I’d thought it would be. “I’ve got to run, but are you doing anything with Matt this weekend?”

“Tomorrow morning, but that’s it so far. Want to get lunch or go to the cove?”

“Yes. Let me get back to you on where and when.”

Mom yelled up the stairs.

“My mom’s calling. Gotta go to dinner. And Cass…”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

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